Traction-engine.



No. 743,424. I PATENTED NOV. 10, 1903.

' J. .B. BARTHOLOMEW.

TRACTION ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 15. 1900. RENEWED APR. 10. 1903.

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No. 743,424. PATBNTED NOV. 10, 1903; J.- B. BARIHOLOMEW.

TRACTION ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 15. 1900. RENEWED APE. 10.1903.

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UNITED STATES Patented November 10, 1903 PATENT FFIQE.

JOHN B. BARTHOLOMEW, OF PEORIA, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO AVERY MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OFPEORIA, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

TRACTION-ENGINE."

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 743,424, dated November 10, 1903.

Application filed February 15, 1900. Renewed April 10, 1903- Serial No. 152,082. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN B. BARTHoLoMnw, a citizen of the United States, residing at Peoria, in the county of Peoria and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Traction-Engines, of which the following is a specification, reference betion of so much of a traction-engine and attached machine, shown as a threshing-ma chine, embodying my invention as is necessary to an understanding of the latter. Fig. 2 is a side view, on a larger scale, of a portion of the means for connecting the engine and threshing-machine and for tightening the main belt. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the devices shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the combined engine and threshing-ina- Fig. 5 is an end view, on a larger scale, of the threshing-machine separated from the engine and looking from the left- Fig. 6 is a plan view, on a smaller scale, of the running-gear of the engine and thresher and of the steering mechanism. Fig. 7 isa sectional view of the compensating or differential gear. Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating by the lines to w 111 respectively, the relative tracks of thethree pairs of ground-wheelsto wit, the tractionwheels, the engine steering-wheels, and the thresher steering-wheels-in turning.

Referring to the drawings, A indicates a traction-engine which except as to the'construction by which it is connected with the indicate the traction-wheels; 3 4, the steering ground-wheels; 5, the boiler and furnace, supported on sa d wheels; 6, the engine; 7, the

1 main power-shaft; 8, the fly-wheel; 9, the

traction-gearing, connecting the power-shaft 7 with the traction-wheels or with an interwheels, attached to the'traction-wheels and driven by the pinions 12 on said counter threshing-Inachine,) which as to its principal features of construction and operation may be of any well-known or preferred character.

17 is the body of the threshing-machine, whose only support independent of the traction-engine A (when attached to said engine) consists of ground-wheels 18 on an axle 19, situated at that end of the th reshing-machine which is remote from the traction-engine.-

At said remote end are also situated the straw feeding and threshing devices, not necessary to be here described in detail, while the threshed straw is delivered at the end of the machine contiguous to the engine or at any other convenient point by means of a fan 20 and straw-stacker duct 21 or other suitable straw stacking or delivering devices.

The threshing-cylinder pulley is shown at 22 and the fan-pulley at 23, these pulleys being arranged in line with the fly and belt wheel 8 of the engine and being maintained in the same longitudinal plane by the hinge-frame and connection of said engine and thresher,

hereinafter described. The main beltisshown at 24 as applied to the fly-wheel and driven pulleys ready for the threshing operation. Beside the said pulleys 22and 23 power may be transmitted to all of the various driven parts of the threshing-machine by the usual belts, pulleys, &c., arranged on either side of the machine in a well-known. manner, or byany preferred devices forsuchypu'rpose not necessary to be here in detail described.

25 is a hinge shaft or pivot extending transversely of the body of the engineand preferably but not necessarily above that end of the same to which the steering-wheels 3 4 are IJO chine.

tween the stirrups and the shaft 25.

attached and which may be called the rear end and which is next to the threshing-ma- This shaft is supported in a frame, bracket, or brackets 26, mounted on the body of the engine and having suit-able bearings 27, in which the shaft is received.

, 28 is a strong channel iron or beam parallel with the shaft. and connected therewith by hinge-bearings 29, secured to said beam and so rrouuding the shaft. Additional connecting-bearings 29 at suitable points may also be employed. Endwise movement of the beam 28 relative to the shaft 25 and to the engine is prevented by any suitable stops-f0r instance, by applying the bearings 29 to the shaft 25 at the outer sides of and in cont-act with the bearings 27.

30 indicates longitudinal frame members connected with the beam 28 by knees 31, eX- tending alongthe sides of the machine B and securely attached to the frame of the latter. The bearings 29 are formed with brackets or arms 32, which are united with the frame 28 30 30 by stirrups 33, preferably arranged at or near the outer ends of the arms 32, whereby the beam 28 rests on said arms to sustain the weightof one end of the machined be- The parts 28 3O 30 are made rigid laterally by angle-braces 3t.

At 'each side of the machine Bis a supporting-frame comprising as a longitudinal member the beam 30, an inclined tension member 35, attached to the outer end of the beam 30 or to the part 28, and an upwardly and downwardly and also outwardly extending member 36, which is connected at its upper end with the inner end of the beam 30 and at its are distributed and neutralized.

lower end directly or indirectly with the inclined member 35. Preferably this latter connection takes place through a transverse member 37, extending beneath and adapted to sustain the frame of the machine B. This transverse member of the frame is conveniently furnished by the ground wheel axle for one end of the machine 13, to the journals 38 0f which may be attached suitable groundwheels (shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1 at 18) when the machine B is detached from the traction-engine and converted into inde pendent form. For greater strength the said supporting-frame may be further connected with the frame of the machine B by tension members 39 40 and a strut 41. The pivotal line at 25 being at a considerable distance from the ground-wheels 18,'the supporting frames and the frame of the machine B are subjected to considerable weight and strain; but by the frame members arranged and attached as above described all undue strains There is also a considerable transverse stra n, due to the great length of the combined machines A and B. Provision is made to resist this by giving the connectingframe lateral extension, as by outwardly inclining the frame members 35 and 39 on at least one side of the machine, Fig. 4'. By the extension of the frame members 35 from points at or near the hinge-line (at 25) rearwardly and outwardly to points at the sides of the machine B at a distance therefrom and there uniting them with a transverse frame member, such as the axle 37, great rigidity is imparted to the frame of the machine B, and said machine is controlled as to practically all points of its body directly from the hinge-shaft. This is important in keeping the body of the machine B in the same longitudinal planes with the traction-engine without unduly straining the frame of said machine by lateral pressures.

Oneimportant feature of my invention consists in arranging the hinge-pivot 25 at a height or on a line which passes between the upper and lower limbs of the main drivingbelt 24, which allows of the independent vertical movements of the engine and machine B without materially changing the distance between the fly-wheel on the engine and the driven pulleys on said machine. By arrangiugthe line of hinging so that the connecting hinge-frame is out of the range of the steering-wheels of the engine the latter may have full play without interference, and said frame may be made relatively narrow and of less lateral dimension than the distance between the two steeringgwheels of the engine; also, said frame may be arranged with one of its side portions above and between said steering-wheels and more or less in line with the body of the engine. According to my invention also the connecting hinge-frame acts to hold the engine and the machine B at a distance from each other, so that free access may be had either to the door 60 in the end of the engine or to the door 61 in the end of the machine B Without its being necessary to disconnect said machine from the engine.

It remains to provide for the successful and easy steering of the traction-engine and attached machine, which on account of their considerable length constitute a vehicle which is difficult to manage without a special steering apparatus allowing of the free relative rotation of all of the ground-wheels on different arcs and at' different speeds, together with means for turning the axles of two of the three sets of ground-wheels to the proper relative angles in proportion to their respective distances from that set of groundwheels the axle of which is not so turned. The free turning of each of the wheels 18 relative to the other and of the Wheels 3 and 4 relative to each other is secured by the independent mounting of said wheels upon their .journals in the usual manner. In the case chains 47.

the steering or turning movement of the combined apparatus. A suitable means whereby power. may be applied to the traction-wheels equally but with difierent speeds consists in a compensating or difierential gearing 42, preferably mounted upon the counter-shaft 10, connected with the power mechanism through the gearing 9and adapted "to in a well-known manner independently actuate the pinions 12. By reference to Fig. 6 it will be seen that if the driven ground-wheels 1 and 2 are while being driven allowed to turn at different speeds-for instance, so that the wheel 1 may turn more rapidly than wheel 2-- and if the axles of the wheels 3 and 4 be.

turned at a certain angle a: relative to the axle of the wheels 1 and 2 and if the axle 19 be turned at a proportionately greater angle y to the axle of the wheels 1 2 (these proportions depending upon the respective distances of the two pairs of wheels from the traction-wheels) the whole scribed, is connected with a take-up chain 43, through which power is applied to the two steering-axles for steering purposes. 'More than the usual amount of power is, however, required,there being four grou nd-wheels with considerable superimposed weightto be turned, said weight comprising the entire machine B and a considerable part of the engine. The chains 43 are not, therefore, connected directly with either of the steering-axles, but are passed over pulleys 44, attached to one of said axles, preferably the axle of the steering-wheels of the engine, and are then attached at 45 to a suitable part of the engineframe. The other steering-axle is connected with suitably-moving parts of the steeringgear, as with the axle of the wheels 3 and 4 or with the movable limbs of the chains 43. As illustrated, the latter mode of connection is employed by means of rods or links 46 and By this means, including the pulleys 44 and the described arrangement of the chains 43,. the power of the steering-gear is doubled, and the four steeringwvheels may be controlled with the ordinary amount of power.

24 near the pulley 23, Fig. 1. The frame 49 extends upward and toward theengine to the shaft 25, on which it is pivoted by bearings 50, so as to be capable of oscillation in vertical planes. means of a stirrup 51, attached to the tightener-frame at 52 and passing upward on both sides of the pulley 48 and belt 24 to a rope or chain 53. The latter .passes over a guidepulley 54 and thence to awindlass 55, mounted on the frame of the machine B. Thewiridlass is provided with a hand-wheel 56'and' is controlled by a pawl 57. The belt-tightener is thus mounted upon one of the two members ofthe combined vehicle and has its op erating or tightening devices upon the other member, enabling its pulley 48 to be applied to the belt 24 at an advantageous point. i It will be seen that one limb of said belt is inclosed within the frame 49 of the tightener, so that when the belt is removed from the fly-wheel it will be partly supported and kept in line with the driven pulleys by the tightener-frame.

An important feature of my invention consists in such construction of the engine and thresher or other attached machine that they may be readily separated and used individually each for its own particular purposes, the attached machine having provision for the removal or application thereto ofgroundwheels to support that end which is otherwise carried by the engine.

The steering mechanism is constructed in proportions and details so that in turning the combined machines the axles of both or all of the steering-wheels will converge'to or toward the same point p in line with the axle of the traction-wheels, and this point will be nearer to or farther from the traction-wheels, according to the angle or are of the turn being made. As the steering-axles are turned toward their parallel positions the point 1) will recede to a great distance and when said axles are parallel may be considered to be at an infinite distance. i

What I claim is- 1. The combination of a traction-engine,- and an attached machine having ahinge connection therewith which is rigid laterally to hold said engine and machine in the same longitudinal planes, said hinge beingsituated transversely of the engine, and above the steering-wheels thereof. i i

2. The combination of a traction-engine, and an attached machine having a supporting-frame for one end thereof, and groundwheels for the other end thereof, the outer end of said frame extending to the engine above the wheels of the latter, and a transverse hinge connection between said frame and the engine which is rigid laterally to hold said engine and machine in the same longitudinal planes. i

The tightener T'is actuatedxby IIC 3. The combinationofa traction-engine,an

attached machine having ground-wheels at or near its farther end, and a transverse hingeshaft or pivot above the engine, attached thereto, and rigid laterally therewith, and means whereby the nearer end of said machine is connected with said shaft or pivot.

4. Thecombination of a traction-engine having one or more frames or brackets rigidly attached thereto at or near its upper part, transverse pivots held in said bracket or brackets and rigid laterally with the engine, an attached machine having groundwheels at or near its farther end, and means whereby the nearer end of said machine is connected with and supported by said pivots, whereby said engine and machine are maintained in the same longitudinal planes and may have a relative vertical oscillating movement.

5. The combination of a traction-engine, a

transverse continuous shaft or pivot extending across the body of the engine above and near one end of the same, means for supporting said shaft or pivot from the engine and holding the same rigidly therewith against forward or backward movement, an attached machine having suitable ground-wheels, and means whereby said machine is supported at one end on said shaft or pivot and maintained in the same longitudinal planes with the engine.

6. The combination of a tractionengine having a fly-Wheel, an attached machine having a pulley adapted to be driven by a belt from said fly-wheel, and a transverse pivot or hinge connection between said engine and machine situated on a line between the paths of the upper and lower limbs of said belt, whereby the engine and machine are maintained in the same longitudinal plane and allowed. to have an independent vertical movement without materially changing the distance between said fly-wheel and pulley.

7. The combination of a traction-engine,

having steering-wheels at one end thereof,

and having an end frame narrower in a direction transversely of the engine than the distance between. or tread of the enginewheels, and means whereby said frame is hinged to the engine on a line above the steering-Wheels and held from backward or forward movement thereon to maintain said. en-

gine and machine in the same longitudinal planes.

9. The combination of a traction-engine having suitable traction and steering Wheels,

a machine attached to that end of the engine supported by the steering-wheels,and a hingeframe having longitudinal side pieces, connecting said engine and machine, maintaining them inthe same longitudinal planes and permitting independent vertical movement, one of the longitudinalside pieces of said frame being situated in vertical planes between said steering-wheels,.and vertically out of range thereof.

10. The combination of a traction-engine, and an attached machine provided with a supporting-frame for one end thereof,and groundwheels for the other end thereof, said frame comprising bars or rods extending from points at or near the outer end of said frame downward and toward said machine and secured at their lower ends to the latter, and a transverse hinge connection between the outer end of said frame and the engine, whereby said engine and machine are maintained in the same longitudinalplanes.

11. The combination of a traction-engine and an attached machine having at each side thereof a supporting-frame comprising a longitudinal member at or near the top of said machine, an inclined member extending from at or near the outer end of said. longitudinal member to a point at or near the lower part of said machine, and an upwardly and downwardly extending member connecting said longitudinal and inclined member, and a hinge connection whereby the outer ends of said frames are mounted andsupported upon the engine and held from forward or backward movement to maintain'said engine and machine in the same longitudinal planes.

12. The combination of a traction-engine, an attached machine, and a connecting hingeframe comprising a longitudinally and outwardly extending member such as 35 secured to said machine to stiffen the same against lateral pressure.

13. The combination of a traction-engine, and an attached machine having at each side thereof a supporting-frame comprising a longitudinal member, an inclined member and a member-extending downward and outward from said longitudinal member to said inclined member, a transverse frame-piece extending from the lower part of the supporting-frame at one side of the machine to the lower part of the supporting-frame at the other side of the machine, and a hinge connection whereby the outer ends of said frames are mounted and supported upon the engine and held from forward or backward movement to maintain said engine and machine in the same longitudinal planes.

14. The combination of a traction-engine and an attached machine which is separable from said engine, means whereby said machine is attached to said engine by a transverse hinge or pivot, ground-wheels for said machine at the end remote from said engine, and .means on said machine at its end next to said engine for the attachment of groundwheels, whereby said attached machine is yrs IIO

end suitable supporting-wheels and at its nearer end an axle adapted to receive supporting-wheels, a supporting-frame for the nearer end of said machine connected with said axle, and a hinge connection whereby the outer end of said frame is mounted and supported upon the engine and held from forward or backward movement to maintain said engine and machine in the same longitudinal planes.

17. The combination of a traction-engine having a fly-wheel, an attached machine having a pulley adapted to be driven by a belt from said fly-wheel, a'transverse shaft or pivot connecting said engine and machine, maintaining them in the same longitudinal planes and permitting independent vertical movement, and a belt-tightener frame hinged on said shaft between said fly-wheel and driven pulley. a

18. The combination of a traction-engine having a fly-wheel, an attached machine having a pulley adapted to be driven by a belt from said fly-wheel, a belt-tightener pulley between said fly-wheel and driven pulley,and a belt-tightener frame carrying said tightener-pulley and arranged toinclose one of the limbs of the driving-belt, whereby said belt is held in said frame when removed from the fly-wheel.

19. The combination of a traction-engine having a driving mechanism comprising means whereby power may be applied to the traction -wheels equally but with different speeds, and having suitable steering-wheels and a steering mechanism, an attached machine supported at one end on said engine by a hinge connection which is rigid laterally to hold said engine and machine in the same 1ongitudinal planes, and suitable ground-wheels for said attached machine connected with and adapted to be turned by the steering mechanism of the engine. i

20. The combination of a traction-engine having a power and driving mechanism, a counter-shaft, the traction wheels, means whereby said counter-shaft may be caused to drive both of said traction-wheels at difierent speeds, suitable steering-wheels and a steering mechanism, an attached machine supported at one end on said engine by ahinge connection which is rigid to hold said engine and machine in the same longitudinal planes, and suitable ground-wheels for said attached machine connected with and adapted to turn by the steering mechanism of the engine.

21. The combination of a traction'engine having a power and driving mechanism, a counter-shaft, the traction-wheels, suitable steering-wheels and a steering mechanism comprising a power-multiplying device such as the pulleys 4i and chains 43, an attached machine supported at one end on said engine by a hinge connection which is rigid to hold said engine and machine in the same longitudinal planes, and suitable ground-wheels for said attached machine connected with and adapted to turn by said steering mechanism.

22. The herein-described apparatus comprising a traction and driving engine, and a threshing and separating mechanism, having a front axle and front ground-wheels and a rear axle adapted to have two ground-wheels, and a hinge-frame projecting rearward and adapted to be hinged to the engine.

23. The herein described threshing and separating mechanism having a front steering-axle and front ground-wheels, a rear axle with removable wheels, and a laterally-rigid hinge-frame projecting rearward and adapted to be hinged to an engine.

24:. The combination of a traction'engine having a driving mechanism comprising a pair of traction-wheels on a rigidly-transverse axle or axles, a steering wheel or wheels on a movable axle connected with said engine, a threshing-machine hinged to said engine, a pair of steering-wheels on a movable axle connected with the outer end of said threshing-machine, and steering mechanism connected with said steering-wheels for causing both their axles to converge toward the same point in line with the axle of the tractionwheels and at varying distances from the traction-wheels according to the angle of turning of the combined machines.

25. The combination of a traction-engine having a band-wheel at one side, an attached machine having a pulley on one side arranged to be driven by the belt from the said bandwheel of the traction-engine, laterally-rigid hinged connections between the traction-engine and the attached machine, and a lateral extension at the side of the attached machine connected with the said hinging connections arranged to resist transverse straining of the attached machine. 7

26. The combination of a traction-engine provided with a pair of steering-wheels, an attached machine provided with steeringwheels, gearing for turning the steeringwheels of the engine, and connections between the said gearing and the steeringwheels of the attached machine arranged to positively turn the latter to an angular extent diderent from that to which the steering-wheels of the engine are turned, substantially as set forth.

27. The combination of a traction-engine ICO provided with traction-wheels at one end and v steering-wheels at the other,-a machine at attached machine arranged to turn the latter to a greater angular extent than are the steer- IO ing-wheels of the traction engine, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN B. BARTHOLOMEW. Witnesses:

L. A. SMITH, ROY M. KENNEDY. 

